Barque: Thomas Moore

News about contemporary American writer of Ageless Soul, Care of the Soul, A Religion of One's Own, and the Gospel series.

Friday, April 30, 2010

Visit Dickinson's garden and listen to her poetry

TheNew York Timesdescribes the new exhibition, Emily Dickinson’s Garden: The Poetry of Flowers that opens today at the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx. The program "considers Dickinson equally as a horticulturalist and a poet, and forges links between the two." According to writer, Holland Cotter:

"The garden itself is a kind of theatrical re-creation. No trace of the original plantings survive in Amherst. So like most museums, the Botanical Garden relied on imaginative research. Its staff, led by Todd Forrest, vice-president for horticulture and living collections, brought together varieties of plants that would have been popular in a western Massachusetts spring garden more than a century ago, paying particular attention to those mentioned — and there are many mentions — by Dickinson in her poems and letters.

To her, as to many Victorian Americans, flowers weren’t just beautifiers; they were moral and personal emblems.

Dickinson, with her auburn hair, identified with the orange tiger lily and sometimes called herself Daisy, for a flower that symbolized innocence. She associated certain richly scented flowers, like roses and jasmine, with men and women to whom she formed emotional attachments."

Cotter reports the exhibit includes "a program of readings and lectures arranged by Alice Quinn, executive director of the Poetry Society of America, that will include a marathon reading of Dickinson’s nearly 1,800 poems. It will run Friday through Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day ... A second marathon, garden-related — all Dickinson’s poems about roses, bees, hummingbirds and so on — is scheduled for June 12 and 13, the show’s final weekend."

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Moore talks about his new book with Diane Ray

Diane Ray's 26 April 2010 I Can Do It Hourinterview with Thomas Moore about his new book Care of the Soul in Medicine on Hay House Radio is available online. Ray speaks with Moore about health care providers, spirit, soul and shares listeners' concerns. A previous Barque post announces this interview.

The interview trailer states, "A former monk and now a prolific and bestselling author, Thomas Moore appears to have taken away from his 13 years of monastic living three main traits: a devotion to religious study, a total commitment to “spiritual living” and a rejection of dogma."

Show your soul while staying in a hospital

The Heal Your Life site offers an excerpt about a patient's role based on Aristotle's tenet, "The soul is what makes you uniquely who you are," from Thomas Moore's new book, Care of the Soul in Medicine: "Healing Health Care". In this section, Moore writes:

"If you express your soul, you will be eccentric. There is no other way. You will rub people the wrong way. They will criticize you. They may be uncomfortable with your individuality. Most people prefer conformity and homogeneity. Heterogeneity is threatening. An institution usually prefers that everyone fade into the background of acquiescence. The organization runs better when people stifle their spirits and camouflage their souls.

There is something inherently aggressive about expressing your individuality. You stick out. You poke the status quo. You refuse to adapt. You upset whatever equilibrium has been achieved.

But from your point of view, this assertive individuality is life and vitality, which are important in reestablishing health. Remember that Asklepios, the Greek God of healing, was a snake. He was not a domesticated animal, though he liked the company of his dog. A snake is threatening, and yet it is the very symbol of healing and medicine."

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Listen to Moore's interview with Colin McEnroe

Colin McEnroe's Wednesday 21 April 2010 interview with Thomas Moore about his new book, Care of the Soul in Medicine is available as a 41 minute 11 second download or you may listen to it online through the Connecticut Public Broadcasting Network. McEnroe shares his own experiences about his parents' deaths as an only child and talks with Moore about the book's offerings that he finds most significant.

Program notes include, "Chances are, you were born in a hospital. Throughout your life, you will get some of your most important news in hospitals. News about yourself and your loved ones. Your babies will be born there. You might die there. Anytime you're in a hospital, you're probably fearful or hopeful or both. With all of that in mind, it probably makes sense for the physical nature of a hospital to be focused on your humanity and for all the things that feed your soul to be present there."

Moore shares some of the stories in his book and helps listeners focus on important facets of the current medical system.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Moore talks with Hay House Radio, 26 April 2010

Thomas Moore participates in Hay House Radio's I Can Do It Hour interview with host Diane Ray on Monday 26 April at 11:00 a.m. The program description reads, "Have you been frustrated with doctors or the quality of health care around you? Thomas Moore joins Diane Ray to discuss his new book Care of the Soul in Medicine. Listen in as he shares his vision for improving health care so that we focus on the needs of the soul and spirit as well as the body."

The program page links to additional air times for Moore's talk. The I Can Do It Hour attempts to bring listeners "fascinating and educational interviews with people whose common theme is their passionate and sometimes provocative insights into personal growth and whole-body wellness."

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Read a review of Care of the Soul in Medicine

Spirituality&Practice.com's Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat reviewCare of the Soul in Medicine: Healing Guidance for Parents, Families, and the People Who Care for Them by Thomas Moore, published by Hay House.

The review includes, "Moore suggests that hospital environments be transformed from modern, sterile, and functional spaces into ones that employ fountains, plants, a wall of water, paintings, sculpture, Zen gardens, photographs of the natural world, soundscapes, and even aromatherapy. In order to make the most of the hospital experience, much more thought and creativity must be put into the soothing and nurturing qualities of the environment."

The Brussats also write, "In his advice to doctors, Moore warns against the kind of arrogance that comes with seeing their work as an impersonal, science-dominated health care that will not expand to include alternative approaches: "Integrative medicine is a natural doorway for letting soul and spirit into the medical world. Massage, diet, hypnosis, meditation, yoga, and acupuncture presuppose a whole person. They ask that we consider pleasure, relaxation, and spiritual practice as implicated in illness and health."

They conclude, "Care of the Soul in Medicine is a very timely book given the amount of coverage in the news and the media about America's health care system. In our profile of Moore in the Living Spiritual Teachers Project, we refer to his emphasis on the importance of the spiritual practice of imagination. This book is a wonderful example of that. He puts on an impressive display of creative ideas about adding beauty, meaning, reverence, hospitality, mystery, and silence to enhance and deepen the healing arts."

Friday, April 16, 2010

Talk Radio features Moore on April 27 program

Thomas Moore is the featured guest on Talk Radio's The Dr. Pat Show, to be recorded 27 April 2010. Moore talks about his new book, Care of the Soul in Medicine: Healing Guidance for Patients, Families, and the People Who Care for Them, published by Hay House. A link to the program will be available a few days after broadcast.

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Caring doctors encouraged to sit beside patient

In Chapter 9 of Care of the Soul in Medicine called "Service to Humanity," Thomas Moore writes about health-care workers in the section "The Meaning of Service:" "The service aspect might appear in their attitude toward their work and toward their patients. They felt that they were serving when they went even a short distance past what was required of them: spending more time at work on behalf of a patient, spending more time in the patient’s presence, being more available by talking freely or sitting rather than standing. That is an interesting notion — service through sitting with a patient, showing her that you are not ready to run off to the next chore or assignment."

An article by Rob Stein of The Washington Post picked up by The Toronto Star today, headlined "Prescription for doctors: Sit down" supports Moore's recommendation by stating, "A new study suggests one very easy way doctors could make their patients feel better: Sit down next to them."

According to the article:

"University of Kansas researchers studied 120 patients who were recovering from spine surgery. When their doctors stopped by their beds to see how they were doing, half of the physicians stood and the other half sat down in a chair next to their patients.

When the researchers questioned the patients afterward, they found a significant difference between their perception of the length of time their doctor spent with them and the actual time. The average time the standing doctors spent at the bedside was one minute and 28 seconds. But patients perceived that the interaction lasted much longer: an average of three minutes and 44 seconds. When the doctor sat, the visit actually lasted an average of one minute and four seconds. But the patients perceived that the visit had gone on for an average of five minutes and 14 seconds.

More-detailed interviews with 38 of the patients found that when their doctors sat down, 95 percent rated the interaction as positive. When the doctors stood, that figure was 61 percent."

Publisher Hay House promotes Moore's new book

To celebrate release of Thomas Moore's Care of the Soul in Medicine, Hay House offers various gifts and a chance to win a trip to Tampa, Florida in November 2010 to see Thomas Moore present at the publisher's I Can Do It! conference. This linked page provides a 40-page downloadable .pdf file that excerpts sections, including Chapter 9 from Care of the Soul in Medicine and a 2 minute 15 second YouTube trailer for the book featuring Moore. A FAQ outlines that you do not have to buy Care of the Soul in Medicine to enter the contest and to receive gifts, services and products from sponsors.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Explore how the body is the soul showing itself

Hay House's HealYourLife.com excerpts Thomas Moore's new book, Care of the Soul in Medicine, with the offering "The Body Has Many Souls". Moore describes his vision of the body: "I didn’t appreciate the mechanical images for life in a body. Today people talk about the brain as a computer and the whole of the body as wonderful machine. I prefer Aristotle’s statement that there are many souls throughout the body. Each organ, each body part, and each cell has a soul, giving it meaning and poetical resonance."

Moore writes about his own issues of the heart and includes:

"If I were writing a full biography of my heart, I could describe wounds that stemmed from relationships lost and betrayed. I could tell of careers interrupted, of misunderstandings at work and at home, and of criticisms of my work that cut deeply.

We all have heartaches, some far more upsetting than the ones I have described, and we don’t all have heart attacks. I am simply following the signs of my symptoms and noting how they seem to summarize the life of a perhaps overly sensitive person.

I offer these reflections on a broken heart as an example of what any patient might do in response to any physical illness or disease. You aren’t out to prove conclusively what caused the illness but to explore how the body is the soul showing itself in its sad and painful moments. You don’t consider the body as an object disconnected from life but rather as the soul impressing itself on your senses."

Check this page for information about Care of the Soul in Medicine, published by Hay House.

Wednesday, April 07, 2010

Live life as deus humanus, be a divine human

Omega Institute offers an excerpt from Thomas Moore's Writing in the Sand: Jesus and the Soul of the Gospels which won the Best Spiritual Book Award in the 2010 Books for a Better Life Awards competition sponsored by the Southern New York Chapter of the National MS Society. This excerpt includes Moore's views about the Gospels' relevance for today:

"How, then, do you live the Gospel spirit today? You do exactly what the gospel says: Firstly, you cultivate a deep respect for people who are not of your circle and whom society rejects. I speak of respect rather than love, because love is too easily sentimentalized and because agape is about respect and affection rather than melodramatic emotion. Secondly, you do everything possible to deal effectively with demonic urges in yourself and in society. You do something about aggression, paranoia, narcissism, greed, jealousy, and violence. You live with a mindset that doesn't justify such things but seeks alternatives. Thirdly, you play the role of healer in every situation. The word therapy appears 47 times in the New Testament — you adopt a therapeutic posture in the style of Jesus the healer. In all your work and interactions, you take the role of healer. Finally, you say awake and don't fall into the unconsciousness of the age. You also help others wake up to a thoughtful life imagined in fresh, original, and convivial ways."

Friday, April 02, 2010

Care of the Soul in Medicine on the road in 2010

In his most recent newsletter, Thomas Moore describes his book, Care of the Soul in Medicine:

In my latest book Care of the Soul in Medicine, I offer my vision for improving health care. I spell out what it means to treat patients as whole persons-body, soul and spirit, and, as usual, I tell stories from my own experience and some that I've heard in my travels. As in Dark Nights of the Soul, I deal with illness as a rite of passage, an event that has important meaning for the patient and the health care giver as well.

The idea for this book came from readers of Care of the Soul. When that book first appeared almost twenty years ago, I began receiving letters from hospitals and medical schools interested in my point of view. In the intervening years I have spoken at countless medical events and have visited hospitals, medical schools and hospices. To prepare for this book I spent two days each month over a two-year period at St. Francis Hospital in Hartford, where I got to know hospital life with some intimacy. So, this is a very meaningful publication for me. I want to add the deep human and spiritual perspective to the current discussion about health care. The book is not abstract or theoretical. In it I speak from my passions as a healer and as a patient. I look forward to hearing your responses to this book. To purchase Care of the Soul In Medicine click on the book cover to the right. To meet me on the road click on an event for more information or to register.